Frank Quilici, a former player, manager and broadcaster with the Minnesota Twins, died Monday at the age of 79, the ball club announced.
“Frank not only exemplified professionalism as a player, coach, manager and broadcaster for the Twins, he also served as a community leader in the Twin Cities working to make sure youth had recreational opportunities and contributed to many other charitable causes,” the Twins said in a statement.
“The club, like many of his friends throughout the game, is thinking of the Quilici family during this difficult time.”
The Twins didn’t say how Quilici died, but the Pioneer Press reports that he had battled an illness for a long time.
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Quilici, a player for the Twins in 1965 and again from 1967-1970, is best known on the field for getting two hits in one inning off of former Los Angeles Dodgers great Don Drysdale during Game 1 of the 1965 World Series.
He retired from playing following the 1970 season and was hired in 1972 to manage the Twins at just 33 years old. Quilici’s Twins went 280-287 before he was replaced by Gene Mauch after the 1975 season.
Quilici also worked alongside Herb Carneal in the Twins’ radio broadcast booth in 1976-77 and 1980-82.
Quilici was an advocate for organ donation after having a kidney transplant himself. In 2013 he was in Wadena for an event and the Pioneer Journal quoted him as saying:
“If everyone in the United States who drives put the ‘D’ indicating they were donors on their license, the wait for donations would disappear.”
